Will the PSW505 go nicely with the Monitor 75Ts

Talon_Sr

I just got the 75Ts recently and I currently have an Onkyo SKW-204 sub, but would like to get the Polk PSW505 to replace the Onkyo. I'd also like to get the CS10 but my entertainment center's center channel location is only about 6.5 inches deep and I don't think the CS10 will fit in there.

Erik Tracy

Welcome to Club Polk!

The PSW505 should be a step up from your Onkyo.

I don't think you are going to find a Polk center channel that is less than 6.5" deep. The CS10 is certainly too big.

Maybe it's time for a different Entertainment Center?

Hermitism

Talon_Sr wrote: »

my entertainment center's center channel location is only about 6.5 inches deep

I had my center channel pulled out to where the front was flush with the edge of the shelf. I couldn't quite get the front tilted up towards ear level without hitting the bottom of the TV. I didn't want to raise the TV height, so I just pulled the center out 5/8" past the edge of the shelf which allowed me to raise the front to the correct angle. I don't see why you can't let a center channel speaker hang over a little as long as your shelf can support the weight. A 3.25" overhang might be a bit much, plus you have to have room for the cable connection in the rear.

Talon_Sr

Hi, Erik. Thanks for the response. Ditching the entertainment center is out of the question as it cost me well over 2K (solid cherry). One question about the new sub I have is I believe the 505 has both Line and LFE inputs. Now I know it's not recommended to use two subs of different makes, but until I sell the Onkyo on eBay, would it be possible to use one sub for LFE and the other for filtered bass? And if so, which one for which task? The Onkyo does not have an LFE input. Also, in posting this, I am slowly increasing my posts (sorry) so that I can list vintage audio components that I would like to sell. Why do you need 100 posts before you can do this?

Talon_Sr

Hermitism wrote: »

I had my center channel pulled out to where the front was flush with the edge of the shelf. I couldn't quite get the front tilted up towards ear level without hitting the bottom of the TV. I didn't want to raise the TV height, so I just pulled the center out 5/8" past the edge of the shelf which allowed me to raise the front to the correct angle. I don't see why you can't let a center channel speaker hang over a little as long as your shelf can support the weight. A 3.25" overhang might be a bit much, plus you have to have room for the cable connection in the rear.

Yeah, I'll just stay with the Pioneer center speaker I have now. It only has 85dB sensitivity and the Polk has 91 and that was why I wanted to upgrade it. The Klipsch center speaker looked nice, but I believe that was too large as well. Also the B&W speaker looked nice but was well out of the budget range.

Hermitism

Talon_Sr wrote: »

Also, in posting this, I am slowly increasing my posts (sorry) so that I can list vintage audio components that I would like to sell. Why do you need 100 posts before you can do this?

There is no buyer's protection when making a purchase here, like there is on eBay. The members like to get to know the sellers/buyers before they are able to participate in the sales section of the forum. It's a question many new members ask, including myself when I joined. Posting for the sole purpose of increasing one's post count is frowned upon. Asking/answering questions and telling stories about past audio endeavors is greatly welcomed and enjoyed. Welcome to Club Polk, lots of smart peeps here that are willing to help with any questions you may have.

Talon_Sr

Yeah, I knew it was frowned upon when I saw a post where someone railed another guy about raising his post limit. Most forums that I'm a member of actually encourage you to post. Just exactly why would it be frowned upon though? I mean, if you don't like what's on TV, you change the channel, right? In this case, you ignore the poster. Not an annoyance to me if someone wants to post for the sake of posting. But I guess each forum has it's own culture. Anyhow, here I am blabbering away and increasing my post count at the same time....hehe. Jk, sorry.

Oh, and one more thing. Since I can't list these, I'll try to sneak them in here. On eBay, I'm currently selling The Onkyo SKW-204 that I mentioned; a DBX 228 Dynamic Range Expander & Type II Tape Noise Reduction system; and an Akai G4000D Open Reel; Marantz 2252 Receiver. I'm an old/retired audiophile who used to sell stereo equipment (including the original Polk Monitors) at a hi-end shop. So, I'm not scamming anyone. Just want to move out some of my old equipment that I've had boxed up for years, but still work. So if anyone's interested, I got only 96 more posts 'til I can show them to you...hah.

Hermitism

Pretty much my whole audio system was purchased used on Craigslist or eBay. Each purchase came with a bit of stress, worrying if I bought something that had undisclosed problems. I've been lucky with one exception, a nightmare on an eBay purchase. Fedex delivered my item to the wrong address and I was told it was unrecoverable. Problem was, the shipper (seller) was the only one that could file a claim with Fedex, but once he had received his money, he would not reply to my many messages. The tracking numbers said that the package was delivered, the driver openly admitted to delivering it to the wrong address, but it's Fedex's policy to NEVER change the tracking info once it says "delivered", so the seller thought it was delivered and he wouldn't contact Fedex to get an explanation. It was Paypal's policy to ONLY go by the info on the tracking numbers. They would not contact Fedex to verify my story. Complete nightmare. I've never listed anything here to sell, but just recently made my first purchase off the classifieds here. Call it a false sense of security if you want, but I never had a worry. I just felt safe buying here and there is great communication throughout the transactions that take place. It's just more comfortable buying or selling from someone you've gotten to know over time. No one really likes me, but I keep coming back. :eek:

Personally, I think it should be less about the post count and more about the length of time you've been a member here and how often you log into your account. Although I only log into mine when I want to make a post. I'm usually just lurking and reading. I'm creepy like that. My only gripe about not being able to view the classifieds when I joined, was not being able to familiarize myself with brand names for speaker cables and IC's and learning appropriate used prices. I didn't know places like Audiogon existed. I was really green when I joined here and Monster was the only manufacturer that I knew of. So, after buying my speakers and components, I purchased Monster HDMI cables, a Monster subwoofer cable and Monster toslink cable. It's unfortunate, because that's not what I would have purchased knowing what I know now.

cnh

Post count is just a way to manage trolls, scammers and those who just want to sell and run. The forum is not an open Flea Market but a venue for members to sell to each other, share and learn from each other. Since you've been in the business for a while and are a member of other forums that should be old news to you.

So Welcome to Club Polk. 100 posts is really nothing, you can do that in a couple of weeks or more. BTW, you're from my original stomping grounds in Pa. (Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton). Were you born and raised there? I left for Grad School and have been gone since. But we still have a house down there.

cnh

Talon_Sr

cnh wrote: »

Post count is just a way to manage trolls, scammers and those who just want to sell and run. The forum is not an open Flea Market but a venue for members to sell to each other, share and learn from each other. Since you've been in the business for a while and are a member of other forums that should be old news to you.

So Welcome to Club Polk. 100 posts is really nothing, you can do that in a couple of weeks or more. BTW, you're from my original stomping grounds in Pa. (Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton). Were you born and raised there? I left for Grad School and have been gone since. But we still have a house down there.

cnh

Wow, cnh. Small world. I grew up in Emmaus ('74 Grad) went to Lock Haven University for Bachelor's then got my Masters at Kutztown. I worked at Bryn Mawr Stereo in Quakertown off Rt. 309. Do you remember that store? It was changed to Tweeter in Allentown. I also sold equipment at Sound Room Four in Allentown. Eventually, I got my teacher's certificate and taught High School Algebra at Northampton for 25 years until I retired just last year. And, oh yeah, "I'm Lovin' it" You should see the man cave I made for myself now that I got all this time. 25' x 25' vaulted ceiling great room for my 55-inch and 7.1 ch AV system, full bar including dart board. I'll send some pics if you'd like to see it Anyway where exactly do you hail from in the Lehigh Valley? Nice to know that there's people on here from my neck of the woods.

cnh

That's cool. Of course I remember Bryn Mawr stereo, I used to salivate over most of the stuff I couldn't afford as a teenager. I grew up in the Easton area (Larry Holmes territory). Moved to NYC for my grad studies and eventually from there to Maine (with a couple of years of work in China and a year in Jersey within that period) where I've been teaching at the college level for 24 years or so. Still a while to retirement but not a great while.

We still have our parents' house in the suburbs just this side of Bethlehem. And my sister still lives in Pa., but to the North.

Would love to see those pics of the man cave! I'm sure most here would as well.

cnh

Talon_Sr

Working at Bryn Mawr was one of the best jobs I've ever had. Going to work every day and just hanging out with the other salesmen listening to music all day long from some of the best equipment you could find? How do you beat that? We sold the complete line of Polk monitors as well as their SDA series along with Klipsch, Infinity, Bang & Olufsson, Yamaha, HK, Sansui, Krell, NAD, Pioneer, Nakamichi (remember the Nak Dragon auto-reverse cassette deck where the cassette door would move out and flip the cassette around and then close for you?), etc. Man, I miss those days. I bought a lot of my equipment from them. But once I got married, I knew that being in sales was not a consistent means of income especially with a family coming along. So, I went back to school to get my teaching cert. And my days of buying the latest tech gadget were over. Anyway, here's some pics of my cave.

cnh

Nice pics! You can NEVER go wrong with a well-stocked Bar! Definitely need a Polk center to match the towers in there.

I'm familiar with that Pioneer center. Had it in my first home theater, I believe it has a polycarb tweeter in it--not a good match for the silk domes in the Polks. Get a deeper piece of wood, paint it black and screw it into that shelf so that you can fit the Polk in there without it falling. Or you can use some kind of anchor to fasten the Polk to the back of the entertainment unit (a beautiful piece, I might add).

And that Polk sub will put out twice the output of the Onkyo. With the large Polk towers you really need at LEAST a PSW 505.

Is that a Pioneer AVR for power?

cnh

rooftop59

Neither the sub nor the center are doing u any good. May as well just run it pure two channel. A friend of mine runs monitor 70s with a phantom center and in ceiling surrounds and really likes it, but the deep bass is missing in action. I would skip the center for now, save your pennies and get a good ht sub like a 10 or 12 inch svs or hsu. Run a phantom center for a bit and see if you really think u need a center.

Talon_Sr

cnh wrote: »

Nice pics! You can NEVER go wrong with a well-stocked Bar! Definitely need a Polk center to match the towers in there.

I'm familiar with that Pioneer center. Had it in my first home theater, I believe it has a polycarb tweeter in it--not a good match for the silk domes in the Polks. Get a deeper piece of wood, paint it black and screw it into that shelf so that you can fit the Polk in there without it falling. Or you can use some kind of anchor to fasten the Polk to the back of the entertainment unit (a beautiful piece, I might add).

And that Polk sub will put out twice the output of the Onkyo. With the large Polk towers you really need at LEAST a PSW 505.

Is that a Pioneer AVR for power?

cnh

Yeah, I don't really want to move that entertainment center, cause it's so damn heavy, just to cut out an opening in the back of the cabinet for a center speaker. Maybe I'll wait to see if Polk comes out with a low profile CS, but I want it to match exterior-wise with my other speakers (black wood grained). That's why I haven't considered any of the Blackstone series. My 505 comes today so that takes care of the sub deficiencies. And yes that's a Pioneer VSX-1018K which is doing a pretty good job, I must say. But I have been looking at the SC-75. I don't care about THX certification, but the SABRE32 DAC on that looks sweet. And 135W X 9 at .08% THD for 8 Ohms is kinda hard to ignore. That'll give me a reason to get another pair of sats for the Front-Height position. As you can see, I have plenty of space to place them. The other sats I have now are CVs and they do a pretty good job. The Advanced MCACC that the new Pioneer uses has a new Sub calibration in it and I'd love to see how that works. Hey, I see you have a BDP-51FD. That is one of the units that I'm selling on eBay. I really like Pioneer, but when I saw the opportunity to get an Oppo, I had to take it. I have a fair amount of SACDs and the Oppo plays them brilliantly. Anyway, I'm watching for the UPS guy. Supposed to be here by 8 PM. I think I'll get a Y-splitter and use both subs until I sell the Onkyo on eBay. We'll se how that goes. I'm a bass freak, I know. Interestingly enough, the setup guides here at Club Polk recommend setting the front towers as small rather than large. So, I'll be testing that theory out with the calibration routine.

Talon_Sr

rooftop59 wrote: »

Neither the sub nor the center are doing u any good. May as well just run it pure two channel. A friend of mine runs monitor 70s with a phantom center and in ceiling surrounds and really likes it, but the deep bass is missing in action. I would skip the center for now, save your pennies and get a good ht sub like a 10 or 12 inch svs or hsu. Run a phantom center for a bit and see if you really think u need a center.

Hey RT, how's it going? Did you see in my last response, that I'm getting the 505 today. So how do you think that will affect your idea? Thanks for the advice.

Hermitism

Man that looks like a really fun and enjoyable room! My parents have a family room that they use, but then they have a formal living room that is nothing but wasted space. They never use it and my mom doesn't even want anyone going in there. My dad always wanted to put a full size pool table in there, but that idea got vetoed. They also have a formal dining room that hasn't been used in years. I'm always pleased when I see someone making the most out of their home. I say make them fun and enjoy life.

Talon_Sr

Thanks, Herm. Actually I have a one piece 1.5-inch thick Italian slate pool table in the basement. Here's the story behind it. I mentioned in some previous posts that I used to work at a high-end stereo boutique (Bryn Mawr Stereo in PA). One day this guy comes in and we're talking about systems both home and car. And he presents me with this proposition. If I installed his home and car stereo systems that he wanted to buy from me for free, he would give me this pool table in exchange for my services. My wife and I had just bought our home (the one we live in now) and I thought, man, I would love to have a table in my basement. And, the sale was big and I didn't want to lose it if I had declined his offer. So, I asked him if I could see it first and he said sure. I get out to his place and the table looks great. Now, you have to understand that most mid-range tables come in multiple slate pieces. Only the real expensive ones are one piece. The cloth may have seen better days, but I figured, "yeah, yeah, I can do this...maybe get it reconditioned some day". The balls and sticks looked in very good condition, so I said "Alright, when can you deliver it?" He looks at me and asks, why do you think I wanted to exchange this with you? I can't get it out of my house! So I tried to lift it on the side. The operative word here is "tried". This thing weighed a good 700-800 lbs. To make this long story short, I dialed up about eight of my friends and we loaded this on a truck and hand carried it down to my basement...with everyone huffin and puffin it all the way. Needless to say, I had a pool party right then and there with a quarter keg on tap. One of my most memorable days working as a stereo salesman.

tonyb

Dump that center and Onkyo sub, you have plenty of space above the tv on that top shelf. Check out Definitive Technology's Mythos center channel speaker, it just may fit.

Hermitism

Talon_Sr wrote: »

To make this long story short, I dialed up about eight of my friends and we loaded this on a truck and hand carried it down to my basement...with everyone huffin and puffin it all the way.

Do you have a walk out basement or did you have to carry it down the steps? When I was in college, my boss asked if I'd help him move some stuff to his new house. He had a big filing cabinet and he refused to empty it first. He had to get it down the steps into his basement and I was on the bottom end. We were trying to slide it down the steps, when suddenly he lost his grip. I had a choice of either getting clobbered by the filing cabinet or jumping on top of it. I jumped. Somehow managed to ride it all the way down the step without injury. Ever since, when someone needs help carrying something heavy down steps, I ALWAYS take the top end.

Talon_Sr

Hah! I can't tell you how many times I told my wife that I wish we had an external entrance to the basement. But no, we had to carry this through our main living room, down a small hallway, into a downstairs bathroom because the entrance to the basement was across from that and then down the steps to a landing. We got stuck here because we could no get the slate to "bend" around the landing and support posts. Now these support posts help to bear weight of the first floor. So we had to use portable jack posts and support the first floor, closer to the top of the steps and then kick out the bottom posts. My wife was afraid that the first floor would collapse. Tbh, I wasn't so sure myself what would happen. But it held, and we quickly replaced the original posts. Whew!!!

Hermitism

Wow, now that's love for a pool table! I bet it stays with the house when you sell it. I have an old Steepleton bumper pool table which I've held on to for years. My dad bought it when I was a kid. They don't make them anymore so I've stored it from place to place over the years. A couple months ago I did a search for bumper pool tables on Craigslist and found a bunch of them and in much better condition. I can't tell you how much trouble storing that table has been year after year and now I find out that all I had to do was check CL.

Talon_Sr

Absolutely. The only way that's getting out of there now, is if I use a sledge hammer to break up the slab. It may come to that some day.

Talon_Sr

tonyb wrote: »

Dump that center and Onkyo sub, you have plenty of space above the tv on that top shelf. Check out Definitive Technology's Mythos center channel speaker, it just may fit.

Can't go on very top of Ent. Center. Sorry to say that's where my wife puts decorative garland. She does live in the house too...hehe. And even though I designed this room, it was both of our incomes that paid for it. She likes to have extended family meetings in here So you gotta have trade-offs sometimes.

tonyb

Not the very top, where your center is now in the pics. Mythos centers are wide and thin, perfect for that opening above the tv.

Talon_Sr

Ok, well I don't want to get nuts here, some of those are pretty steep in price. I'm just looking for something with a sensitivity >= 90 dB, will sound good with my Polk silk domes, and it needs to fit. I'm not looking to name drop here but at the same time, I don't want something from Radio Shack. I'll probably go with the CS10. Since it has an angled/sloped top, the hole that I'd have to cut out of the back of my entertainment center will not have to be as large.

cnh

CS10 would be OK. But the CS20 would be even better. I run an M-70, CS2, M-30 system on that Onkyo below. The M-70s are predecessors to your towers and the CS2 is like the CS20. I have a Boston 12" sub (300 watts RMS, 600 watts peak that hits 25hz). All this is more than adequate for my listening area (17' x 11.5, the room is 8' longer but the couch and rears are at the 17' mark with a game table behind them).

I realize you have space limitations and that is a gorgeous entertainment unit (and the wife).

cnh

rooftop59

Try the phantom center option before u go cutting. U might like it!

It'll still work with the psw505. Or u might try an energy rc-mini or def tech pro center 1000.

rooftop59

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Definitive-Technology-ProCenter-1000-Center-Channel-Speaker-/111374458499?pt=Speakers_Subwoofers&hash=item19ee6f5e83

Its only 5 inches high. It doesn't go nearly as low as it claims (the recommended crossover frequency on def tech's page is 100 hz) but it will be a pretty full sounding center.

the bigger one would be a better match, and is stil only 6.5 inches tall, but it costs quite a bit more:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Definitive-Technology-ProCenter-2000-Center-Speaker-Pro-Center-2000-NO-RESERVE-/301185899649?pt=Speakers_Subwoofers&hash=item4620141c81

This might be a good compromise if you can fit it:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Definitive-Technology-Procinema-ProCenter-2-Speaker-/181307208449?pt=Speakers_Subwoofers&hash=item2a36c07301

its 6 5/8 inches high.

Talon_Sr

cnh wrote: »

CS10 would be OK. But the CS20 would be even better. I run an M-70, CS2, M-30 system on that Onkyo below. The M-70s are predecessors to your towers and the CS2 is like the CS20. I have a Boston 12" sub (300 watts RMS, 600 watts peak that hits 25hz). All this is more than adequate for my listening area (17' x 11.5, the room is 8' longer but the couch and rears are at the 17' mark with a game table behind them).

I realize you have space limitations and that is a gorgeous entertainment unit (and the wife).

cnh

cnh, I just don't see the value in the CS20 over the CS10. Yeah, you get 6.5 woofs over 5.25 which gives you a few Hz lower on the range, but both have the same tweeter and same sensitivity. The 20 is one inch taller and deeper so my cut has to be larger and more will be hanging out the back. And all of this for more than twice the price? CS10 is going for $106 with free shipping. At this point, I think that's the winner so far.

Talon_Sr

rooftop59 wrote: »

Try the phantom center option before u go cutting. U might like it!

It'll still work with the psw505. Or u might try an energy rc-mini or def tech pro center 1000.

RT, let me look into that (both options).